Geoffrey was older and more mature and he must have reasoned that marriage with the greatest heiress in Europe was worth having to put up with a haughty wife. Matilda may also have reasoned that she was unlikely to be provided with any husband other than Geoffrey and, approaching thirty, she was concerned at her lack of an heir. Certainly, both Geoffrey and Matilda seem to have been determined to try to make their marriage work and on 5 March 1133, Matilda gave birth to her first child, a healthy son whom she named Henry, after her father. 18 Matilda wept throughout her son’s christening and she must have felt exonerated from the stigma of childlessness. A second son, Geoffrey, was born in 1134 and two years later Matilda bore a third son, William. 19 Matilda and Geoffrey seem to have felt that, with William’s birth, their family was complete and they ceased to live together, probably to both their relief.
If Matilda was pleased with the birth of her sons, her father, King Henry, was overjoyed and Matilda with her eldest two sons spent much time with him during the last years of his life. 20 However the relationship between Matilda and her father does not appear to have mellowed and their relationship remained tempestuous. Henry of Huntingdon, for one, even suggests that Matilda’s behaviour was partly responsible for Henry’s sudden death on 1 December 1135:
In the thirty-fifth year, King Henry stayed on in Normandy. Several times he planned to return to England, but he did not do so, being detained by his daughter on account of various disputes, which arose on a number of issues, between the king and the Count of Anjou, due to the machinations of none other than the king’s daughter. The king was provoked by these irritations to anger and bitter ill-feeling, which was said by some to have been the origin of the chill in his bowels and later the cause of his death. 21
The charge that Matilda contributed to her father’s death is unjustified. Matilda, as Henry’s heir, but Geoffrey’s wife, was in a difficult position and would have been expected to obey both men – an impossible task when they were in conflict. In leaving her father, Matilda was criticised when he died but, if she had stayed with her father, she would almost certainly have been accused of disobeying her husband. Despite the criticism of the chroniclers, Henry does not appear to have blamed Matilda and, as he lay dying, he confirmed to those present that he wished his daughter to succeed him. 22
England had never had a female ruler before Matilda and Henry, aware of the difficulties that she would face, had tried to prepare the way for Matilda’s accession through requiring oaths in her favour from his court. One of the most prominent of the oath takers was Henry’s nephew, Stephen of Blois, who was the son of his sister Adela. In spite of his oaths in support of Matilda, Stephen appears to have had his eye on the English throne for some time and, as soon as word reached him of his uncle’s death, he hastened to England and had himself crowned king. 23 News of Stephen’s actions caught Matilda by surprise and Stephen may have been the last person Matilda suspected of betraying her. Stephen appears to have been an affable man, with one chronicler praising him as ‘rich and at the same time unassuming, generous, courteous; moreover, in all the conflicts of war or in any siege of his enemies, bold and brave, judicious and patient’. 24 Stephen and Matilda may have been closer than usual for cousins and a legend exists that Matilda’s eldest son, Henry, was the product of an adulterous affair between them. 25 If so Stephen’s betrayal would have been doubly hard for Matilda to accept. However, once again, it would seem that this story was an invention designed to blacken Matilda’s name rather than represent the truth. Certainly, Geoffrey never seems to have doubted that Henry was his child and Matilda later displayed a savagery towards
If Matilda was pleased with the birth of her sons, her father, King Henry, was overjoyed and Matilda with her eldest two sons spent much time with him during the last years of his life. 20 However the relationship between Matilda and her father does not appear to have mellowed and their relationship remained tempestuous. Henry of Huntingdon, for one, even suggests that Matilda’s behaviour was partly responsible for Henry’s sudden death on 1 December 1135:
In the thirty-fifth year, King Henry stayed on in Normandy. Several times he planned to return to England, but he did not do so, being detained by his daughter on account of various disputes, which arose on a number of issues, between the king and the Count of Anjou, due to the machinations of none other than the king’s daughter. The king was provoked by these irritations to anger and bitter ill-feeling, which was said by some to have been the origin of the chill in his bowels and later the cause of his death. 21
The charge that Matilda contributed to her father’s death is unjustified. Matilda, as Henry’s heir, but Geoffrey’s wife, was in a difficult position and would have been expected to obey both men – an impossible task when they were in conflict. In leaving her father, Matilda was criticised when he died but, if she had stayed with her father, she would almost certainly have been accused of disobeying her husband. Despite the criticism of the chroniclers, Henry does not appear to have blamed Matilda and, as he lay dying, he confirmed to those present that he wished his daughter to succeed him. 22
England had never had a female ruler before Matilda and Henry, aware of the difficulties that she would face, had tried to prepare the way for Matilda’s accession through requiring oaths in her favour from his court. One of the most prominent of the oath takers was Henry’s nephew, Stephen of Blois, who was the son of his sister Adela. In spite of his oaths in support of Matilda, Stephen appears to have had his eye on the English throne for some time and, as soon as word reached him of his uncle’s death, he hastened to England and had himself crowned king. 23 News of Stephen’s actions caught Matilda by surprise and Stephen may have been the last person Matilda suspected of betraying her. Stephen appears to have been an affable man, with one chronicler praising him as ‘rich and at the same time unassuming, generous, courteous; moreover, in all the conflicts of war or in any siege of his enemies, bold and brave, judicious and patient’. 24 Stephen and Matilda may have been closer than usual for cousins and a legend exists that Matilda’s eldest son, Henry, was the product of an adulterous affair between them. 25 If so Stephen’s betrayal would have been doubly hard for Matilda to accept. However, once again, it would seem that this story was an invention designed to blacken Matilda’s name rather than represent the truth. Certainly, Geoffrey never seems to have doubted that Henry was his child and Matilda later displayed a savagery towards
Similar Books
